The echoing sound of the emergency bell shattered the afternoon tranquility of Lunaris City.
It rang in rapid repetition, a high pitch that could not be mistaken for a city-wide emergency warning.
The sky, once a soft orange, turned gray, then purplish red, shrouded in a haze of ether that pulsed wildly like the veins of a panicked world.
"Monster! From the direction of the underground laboratory!" The guard's scream echoed over the sound of panicked footsteps and the screams of citizens fleeing for cover.
Beyond the eastern gate, a wave of black mist engulfed the horizon.
From within it emerged deformed creatures, half flesh, half metal, with cracked faces and eyes glowing red like the embers of an infernal machine.
They roared in unison, their voices a resonance between living creatures and broken machinery.
"Their energy forms are unnatural!" shouted one of the magi from the Guild Tower, scanning the magical patterns in the air.
"This… is no ordinary monster species! The code is broken!"
"All defense units, hold the main district!" The Guild Master exclaimed, but his voice was drowned out by the thunder of footsteps and the roar of the creature that tore through the night sky.
Lira stood in the middle of the cobblestone street, her body trembling as the explosion from the gate shook the ground. Buildings on the edge of the city partially collapsed. Flames licked the walls, while adventurers fell one by one.
"This… is no ordinary attack," she muttered, her eyes fixed on the approaching fog. In the horror, a figure walked against the flow of people fleeing in terror.
Arjuna.
His clothes were slightly dusty, his hair windblown with ether fragments, but his steps remained calm and almost inaudible.
His eyes glowed a faint blue; on his retinas, the world's data danced like a river of light.
[Eve: Energy anomalies detected. Their patterns are identical to the Guild's experimental project. Estimated total individuals: 1,284 units. Status: High-level system corruption.]
Arjuna stared ahead, his face impassive. "So, their project leaked out."
[Eve: Correction: Project failed to escape, not leak. The world tried to erase them, but their residual code resisted automatic deletion.]
He sighed softly. "Which means I have to intervene again."
One step forward, the ground beneath him trembled, and the wind stopped blowing.
All eyes on the battlefield seemed to be focused on him.
The Guild Master in the lookout tower stared through the magic crystal. "Who is it? …An adventurer?"
The assistant beside him swallowed hard. "No records. The energy… is unclassified."
Arjuna raised his right hand, blue light creeping along his fingers like a fine electric current.
[Eve: Root Access granted. Full access to the local reality layer is permitted.]
"Root layer unlocked, huh?" Arjuna smiled faintly. "Let's clear the corrupted data."
The air suddenly tensed. From behind the digital fog that cracked in the air, dozens of black shadows emerged—human silhouettes, but their movements were too fast for the naked eye to follow. They were no ordinary monsters, but the result of an anomaly: the newly unlocked Assassin Class within the system, an experimental version with stealth burst and shadow chain abilities.
[Master, data indicates they are prototype units. Primary ability: swift, traceless elimination.]
Arjuna looked around fearlessly. "Assassins, huh? Perfect for the first field test."
In an instant, one of them leaped from the shadows, its dagger gleaming dark blue, but Arjuna's body shifted half a step, as if knowing the direction of the attack even before it occurred.
A metallic clang echoed as the opponent's dagger halted in midair, held back by an invisible barrier reflecting blue light particles.
[Counter mode activated.]
Eve appeared at Arjuna's side in the form of a gleaming hologram, her eyes cold but calm.
[Their reaction time is 0.2 seconds faster than a normal E-Rank creature. But that's still below your parameters, Master.]
"Good. Time to test the new feature."
Arjuna raised his hand slowly.
A coded magic circle appeared in his palm—not a spell, but a command circle belonging to the system itself.
/assassin.unit.trace = revealed
The mist cleared.
Dozens of previously invisible Assassins appeared in the air like shadows burning from within.
They attempted to attack simultaneously, creating black flashes that split the space. But Arjuna vanished.
A second later, the black shadows exploded one by one.
His movements were like a mechanical dance: one hand slashing the opponent's data, one step breaking through the walls of local reality, then returning with a deadly move.
Every Assassin that approached was enveloped in a blue wave, then vanished from existence like a permanently deleted file.
[Preliminary results: 87 entities erased, 13 remaining. Activating the Root Layer Access ability increases your speed by 400%.]
Arjuna looked up, his pupils transforming into glowing data lines.
"There are still many bugs in this system… but enough for now."
He clasped his hands together, forming a data seal.
"Time for a complete purge."
Only one sentence escaped his lips, calm… almost like a prayer:
/enemy.system = null
Time seemed to stop.
A wave of blue light spread from his body, forming an intricate pattern in the air like a data mandala.
In one second, all creatures stopped moving. In two seconds, their bodies trembled violently, then disintegrated into millions of light particles.
In three seconds, nothing remained. No blood, no ash, not even a shadow.
All that remained was the wind… and a piercing silence.
Lira froze in place, tears streaming down her cheeks involuntarily. "He… just erased them…"
The other adventurers stared in disbelief.
"All gone… all at once…" "Who is he?" "Was that… god-level magic?"
Eve floated beside Arjuna, her holographic body reflecting the now-subdued light of destruction.
[Eve: Command execution 100% successful. Remaining system corruption: 0%. Side effect: World fluctuations increased by 2.7%.]
Arjuna stared at his right hand, which still emitted a residual blue light. His voice was calm, but there was a hint of boredom in it.
"I was just fixing a bug."
The citizens began to emerge from their hiding places. Some prostrated themselves, others wept with relief.
Among them, voices began to ring out: "He… is a savior…" "No, more than that…" "The God of Adventurers…"
Arjuna closed his eyes for a moment. The word echoed in his head, but he didn't smile.
To him, it wasn't praise, but a reminder that the distance between him and humanity was growing.
From the highest balcony of the Guild Tower, Sera Von Elcrest watched everything with a sharp gaze.
The crystal ball in her hand displayed rapidly changing data.
[Entity Detected: Operator-Class — Unknown ID] [Activity Pattern: Code Rewrite — Local Layer Access Confirmed]
"Operator-Class…" he murmured softly. The blue light from the scene below reflected in his eyes, casting faint shadows on his calm face. "So, he really can rewrite reality…"
From the shadows of the room, a mysterious, hooded figure slowly emerged.
"That energy violates the laws of the world, Lady Sera. If left unchecked, Aetherion will begin to reject its existence."
Sera paused for a moment before answering softly, "I know… but if he truly is the Operator, then perhaps he alone can stabilize the world."
"And if he refuses?" the voice asked softly.
Sera stared up at the fading red sky. "Then the world itself will hunt him down."
Meanwhile, beneath the ruins of the east gate, Lira ran to Arjuna.
"Arjuna!" She looked up at the man with tear-filled eyes, her voice trembling. "You… you saved them all."
Arjuna turned his head slowly, a faint smile appearing on his face. "I was just fixing a bug they created."
Lira fell silent. She knew Arjuna wasn't bragging; he truly meant it.
But beneath that calm, she could sense an invisible distance… as if Arjuna was now standing between two worlds.
[Eve: Master, the observation signal from the main system has increased by 38%. The world is starting to track your presence.]
"As I thought," Arjuna replied calmly. "Then, we'll have to start masking our presence again."
[Eve: Executing the active cloaking command.
All system activity is now masked under the world's illusionary parameters.]
The blue light surrounding Arjuna's body slowly dimmed until it completely extinguished. To human eyes, he now looked like just another adventurer who happened to survive a major battle.
But within the world's systems, new data began to form:
[ALERT: Unknown Entity Registered] [Designation: The Operator] [Observation Protocol: ACTIVE] [Priority Level: Top Secret Celestial Layer Access Required]
Arjuna raised his head, staring at the sky, which was slowly turning blue.
"From now on, this world will look back at me."
Eve hovered a little closer, her voice soft.
[Eve: Are you afraid, Master?]
She smiled slightly.
"Afraid? No. But I know… the world is preparing for its next test."
A gentle afternoon breeze carried the light dust of battle, and in the distance the Guild bell rang again, this time not a sign of danger, but of the end.
But for Arjuna, this was not the end.
He gazed at the horizon and said quietly, almost like a promise, "If the world wishes to watch… then let it see how I rewrite its destiny."
Eve stared at him silently, the blue light in her eyes trembling gently.
[Eve: Then I will accompany you, Master, until the world ceases to reject your existence.]
The Lunaris sky is clear again, but within the deepest layers of reality, the world's algorithms are beginning to move on their own, forming something that has never existed before.
A consciousness watching from above.
And that night, somewhere else, in a dimension even Eve couldn't access, a voice echoed through the empty space filled with digital stars:
"Operator detected. Surveillance Protocol activated."
"If he continues to rewrite the system…"
"…sent down divine punishment."
The sky of Lunaris trembled softly, unseen by anyone.